BXBX NOVEL Chapter 58: Crystal Core
When Su Jin saw the shining crystal core exposed inside the female zombie’s head, her eyes lit up. She stepped forward and used her knife to pry it out.
“Is this the crystal core?” Nie Qing looked at the white stone lying on the tip of Su Jin’s knife, smeared with blood and brain matter, and felt reluctant to touch it.
“Lin Xiuyuan, go wash it,” Su Jin nodded at Nie Qing, then tossed the crystal core to Lin Xiuyuan.
The named Lin Xiuyuan caught the small object flying mid-air almost reflexively…
“Holy crap, what is this disgusting thing?” Lin Xiuyuan looked at his hands soiled with unknown substances and ran crying to the faucet used for rinsing mops, bawling, “Su Jin, you witch.”
However, as he washed it, Lin Xiuyuan became captivated by the crystal core in his hands, mesmerized by its beauty. It looked even brighter than a diamond, shaped irregularly but almost transparent white and flawlessly clean.
Su Jin came over, displayed the crystal core to everyone, and everyone expressed disbelief that such a beautiful crystal core could exist inside such a repulsive zombie head.
“The crystal core is rich in energy and can replenish a Special Ability User’s energy, fostering the upgrading of special abilities. The crystal cores from Mutated Zombies can also be absorbed by Special Ability Users. However, if a user absorbs a crystal core of the same type as their ability, the effect can increase at least threefold,” the crystal core in Lin Xiuyuan’s hand was obviously from a newly mutated Speed Element zombie, so it only slightly glowed white.
Su Jin had Lin Xiuyuan pass the crystal core around for everyone to see, then threw it to Su Xiangzhe.
“Xiao Jin?” Su Xiangzhe asked, puzzled.
“Dad, you fought for this crystal core, so you should keep it. In the future, the same rule applies: whoever fights for the crystal core will manage it,” Su Jin had considered centralizing the storage of the crystal cores, but she recalled how internal strife due to unfair distribution of crystal cores had torn apart a team in her previous life, so she decided it was better to let everyone manage their own.
Although she believed there wouldn’t be such issues within her own family, she wanted to maintain fairness and enthusiasm for collecting crystal cores among everyone; after all, crystal cores would become the circulating currency in the future.
After Su Xiangzhe successfully killed a zombie, he felt his blood boiling, no longer fearing those hideous zombies. However, the next person to practice was Lu Guanhai, so he could only watch from the sidelines.
Su Jin looked at her eager father and almost wanted to laugh, so she asked him to guard the door for the next person who would lure the monsters in.
The zombies Su Xiangzhe had lured were not dispersed but continued to surround and bang on the iron gate, occasionally scratching it with their sharp nails, generating a grating noise.
Actually, when Su Xiangzhe went out to lure the zombies, some neighbors from the nearby buildings had already seen from their windows. They didn’t understand the actions of the Lin family; wasn’t the news telling everyone to stay safely at home? Yet they had come outside, one by one luring those ghastly monsters home? Were they insane?
Most onlookers derided the Lin family’s actions, thinking they were foolishly courting death; some simply pulled their curtains shut, unwilling to watch any further.
Although Su Jin was aware of this, she didn’t care. A Special Ability User’s senses were significantly sharper than those of an ordinary person. She smirked, knowing it wouldn’t take a week before these people understood who was right and who was wrong.
Lu Guanhai also successfully killed his first lured zombie, and like Su Xiangzhe, he no longer found the zombies as fearsome.
Following were Lin Cheng, Mao Zhihang, Lin Xiuyuan, Nie Qing…
All the men were blood-boiling in their killings, and Lin Xiuyuan felt like he was playing a real-life 3D game, but far more thrilling than any game. None of them encountered any mutated zombies again, except for Mao Zhihang, who killed an ordinary zombie that contained a small transparent crystal core, which was enough to make everyone else envious.
The alley had few zombies, which were quickly dispatched by each man, so Lu Hao suggested they go a bit farther to draw some more since the ladies at home still lacked practical experience.
Lin Xiuyuan volunteered to accompany Lu Hao to lure the zombies, as he was not afraid anymore. However, Su Jin said, a few days ago, to refrain from using Special Abilities and instead practice close combat with zombies, which would benefit future combat using Special Abilities.
Lu Hao and Lin Xiuyuan went together to draw out the zombies. Su Jin was relatively at ease, given that Lu Hao’s Fire Element Ability was already at the early stage of level two. Although it was just the initial stage of level two, Su Jin thought his Special Ability Fire was even more formidable than the Fire Element Ability of a level three Special Ability User she had seen in her past life. Moreover, Lu Hao’s ability consumed at a slow rate, a reason that eluded Su Jin, but in her past life, she had seen other mutant series Special Ability Users, perhaps Lu Hao’s Fire Element was also a mutant variant.
While the men practiced killing zombies, Lin Tianhui, Lin Tianzhen, Huang Yunxiang, and even Mao Qiqi watched seriously. Li Xiuying and Lin Yunguo also watched the situation in the yard from inside the house. Li Xiuying felt her heart pounding, finding zombies utterly terrifying. She never thought she would experience the Apocalypse at her age. But now, for these younger generations of the family, peaceful days were over.
Lin Yunguo felt incredibly grateful that Su Jin and Lu Hao had this Space; otherwise, with his old arms and legs, even with last-minute training, he doubted he could kill a single zombie. Without the Space, he might have ended it all himself to avoid burdening the younger family members.
Remembering that their family outside still had to fight throughout the day, Lin Yunguo sighed and told Li Xiuying that he was going into the Space to cook for the family. The only thing he could do now was prepare a delicious meal for his loved ones.
As for why not cook in the kitchen, Su Jin mentioned that since the start of the Apocalypse, to be safe, they had better avoid using the water from the pipes, so their breakfast that day was made using well water from the Space.
Li Xiuying nodded and entered the Space with Lin Yunguo; she also wanted to do something to cheer up the younger ones.
Eventually, Lin Cheng also joined Lu Hao and Lin Xiuyuan on the streets, not because he worried about their safety, but seeing his own son so bold, he, as a father, couldn’t back down. Su Jin agreed and instructed Lu Hao to ensure their safety, and to use his Special Ability Fire if necessary.
Lu Hao nodded, armed himself along with the two, and stepped out the door.
“Xiao Jin, I really had no idea the Apocalypse would be this terrifying,” Lin Tianhui said as she sat down and sighed.
She had always been an optimistic person, and even after learning about the Apocalypse, she believed that everything would be fine as long as everyone stuck together. But now that she had seen the zombies, she realized that unity was not as simple as it was said; if they wanted to remain united, they had to become strong enough, otherwise, no matter how united the group, they would be insignificant in the face of tremendous force.
Hearing Lin Tianhui’s thoughts, everyone agreed they had been too optimistic. Fortunately, with Xiao Jin and Lu Hao, otherwise, they might have been assimilated by zombies by now.
“The Apocalypse is a world that devours people; if you don’t kill zombies, the zombies will eat us,” Su Jin said.
The cruelty of the Apocalypse was just beginning, and it seemed that having the whole family practice killing zombies was the right decision, otherwise, they wouldn’t have had such insights.
“Lass, such monsters I’ve never heard of or seen in my lifetime; I wonder how they came to be,”
Nie Qing said, looking at the distant gray sky, ominous, very ominous indeed.